The kick-off is the period in which every member of the team gets to know each other and begin to understand what their tasks are for the year. We do activities together to know each other and to build bonds between team members. We arrange different activities together to get closer together. Activities like a rebus run, bowling and parties are arranged to make sure that everyone feels comfortable with each other. Effectively laying the groundwork for the coming week, where everyone would have to put in a lot of effort to learn about their system and having to attend numerous courses!

During the Kick-off period each member must figure out what their system entails and get a basic overview of its required functions. At the end the members present their systems to alumni and technical leaders to make sure they have an alright overview of the systems, and what they will work on during the project year!

The concept review event is one of the most vital events of the project year. It is all about collaboration, openness, diverse ideas, and integration. Each team members will present their ideas in their respective domain and explain how it will function. The other members will come with feedback and point out potential problems or improvements for the system. If there is a query or technical abnormalities they will be rectified by the collaboration and openness between the team. It is a way for everyone to get important insight into the different systems, and a great way for the presenters to learn about potential problems with their concepts. Often, they will learn about potential problems regarding integrating their solution with the other systems. Although it can be tense and tiring process, there is a lot of information to be exchange and without it wouldn’t be possible to finish our project. Through tough and difficult discussions our concept is finalized, and it was now possible to get a (somewhat) complete picture of what our team will be working on.

After the concept review comes the design review, this is where the teams must finalize the best possible designs for their modules & subsystems. The phase involves our technical teams only, however the non-technical teams are still able to provide feedback. The teams will present their designs based on the feedback each of the team received in the concept review. The physical and software compatibility will be reviewed on each sub system. So it is extra important that everyone gives constructive feedback and makes sure that their system is properly integrated with each other. This can be interesting for everyone in Shift as it can help with getting a better understanding of what everyone has been up to. This is one of the last activities Shift does during the fall semester.

One of the cornerstones in Shift is that everyone must prioritize their school life. Therefore during our design freeze our members are to only focus on their exams to ensure that everyone passes their semesters!

Often, the designs won’t be completely ready for the second semester. Therefore a few weeks in the beginning of the second semester is used to finish up designing the parts!

This is where the fun begins! After weeks of drawing up the design, tweaking it and discussing it with your peers the time has finally come to start the production of the different parts. Some parts will be produced in the facilities of our partners, and some will be produced in our own offices or our very own workshop. This can be a fun process, and is when you can finally put your theory into practice!.

As we’re all student volunteers and a lot of members come and go, we’re in need of new leaders. During our leader admission in March, we recruit new group leaders and management. The reasoning behind this is to give the new leaders enough time to be properly incorporated into their new positions, as well as be able to lead a new team with perhaps new members the following semester.

During the assembly phase the goal is to properly integrate the individual systems together into one coherent pod. The different systems which have now been produced will be assembled together, which needs the coordination of all the different groups.

Now the pod is finally assembled! But the job is not done yet. This marks the beginning of the testing phase, where the primary job is to test out the pod’s systems individually and the cohesiveness of the entire vehicle. It is important to make sure that the pod may run safely and that it runs as efficiently as possible. This might be the most exciting part of the project year, as it is when we are finally seeing the fruits of our labor.

Now it is finally time to show off the pod to the whole wide world! An event is planned with food, and mingling with our fantastic partners and members to showcase what we have produced this year. Our members can present their systems that they are rightfully proud of, and they enjoy a final event to the end of the normal project year!

Even though the pod is finished and fully assembled, there’s still a lot of work and testing to be done. The competition is sneaking up, and all potential errors or imperfections have to be sorted out in order to make sure all systems and subsystems are working as expected. The summer testing involves a great time where our hard working members get to experience a fully operational pod.

It is finally time to prove that we are the greatest hyperloop team in the entire world! (or at the very least that our pod actually works.) In the summer, every member that wants to may travel to the European Hyperloop Week (EHW) which is hosted in a different location in Europe each year! In 2021, EHW was held in Spain and in 2022 it was held in the Netherlands. Here we will compete in a myriad of different competitions, where our technical groups as well as our concept group will get to show off their work on a global scale. The traveling members will also be able to enjoy the city which hosts the competition and will get a much needed break!